y ogb austria 2006 page 1

The 2006 Easter Bike Tour was arranged and organised by Dez . Along for the ride this year were Dez (obviously), Howard, Pete, & Steve who took along his young nephew Chris. Wesley had declined the invitation because he'd swapped his CB1300 for the Robin Hood (sportscar).

Meanwhile, a few weeks after the return from the Euro run, Wesley "accidentally" bought another bike, details of which can soon be found on the "Bikes 'n Stuff" pages. Suffice to say for now that we do lead exciting lives on the edge us Wrinklies ya know!

Apart from that, bikes for this year hadn't changed. Dez still had his CBR1000, Howard was still riding the VFR750 but he had bought an old Goldwing to accompany it in his garage. Steve had stayed with the Triumph Tiger, and Pete was still loving his Blackbird. New boy Chris was riding a beat up old Suzuki SV650 which was in need of some TLC. How the little SV made it for 2000 miles around Europe will forever remain one of lifes little mysteries! .............And finally my VFR had gone - I was bikeless!

This tour went down through France into Germany to Cologne, Heidelburg & Birkendorf and continue down as far as Bregenz on the shores of Lake Constance in Austria. The return run passed through Colmar, Trier and Brugge. The ferry back home was an overnight cruise from Zeebrugge to Hull.

The route looked something like this.........................

Maundy Thursday, the day before good Friday, not the best day that Dez and Howard have ever had. The plan had been to take 2 Sat Navs along into Europe, one strapped to Dez's bike and the other to Howards. Pity then, that by the time they arrived at Dover there wasn't one GPS left between them! An important bit of Dez's had gone flying off somewhere on the motorway, and a bit further on Howards fell down inside his fairing and the screen on it got cracked. This caused a bit of a pickle really, especially as no one had brought a map !

Dez and Howard looking a bit sheepish! By now they were right pissed off after losing both Sat Navs so early in the trip.
Laughing boy Chris had been and bought a map

Paper maps in hand our intrepid bikers set forth upon their epic voyage..............Getting ready to leave the ferry at Calais

Taken through the mirrored ceiling in one of the hotels - I've heard about hotels with mirrored ceilings before!!

Howard always looks as like a bear with a sore head after a good night out with Steve

"Au Chasseur " Restaurant, Colmar. Here you get your meat raw, cut bits off and cook them on the hotplate as you go. That's one
hell of a chunk of meat for one bloke though. Nice bib by the way Pete.